I am an unashamed goal-setter.

Some people don’t like to call them goals so call them whatever you like. I like to think about them as things you want to be, do or achieve.

I’ve told you before that I’ve been setting and achieving goals for about 13 years now so I have just a little bit of experience in the area.

That said, I won’t lie to you – there does come a point during the year (around August usually) when you feel like throwing in the towel.

Don’t.

That’s usually when you’re about to get a breakthrough but only if you do these 3 things:

1. Look through your goals list and note down your achievements

Recognising your achievements makes you feel like a winner. Even if you only achieved part of a goal, you’re still streaks ahead of where you’d be if you didn’t do anything.

E.g. If you had on your list to get your entire home organized and you managed to do (only) two rooms, FANTASTIC! You rock!!!

2. Ask for the necessary help

This is a big one and oh-so-difficult for a lot of us women.

I’ll confess – I also hate asking for help. It helps get you out of the “I can do it all myself” mentality and best of all, it propels you forward.

I have a blogging goal on my list that I’ve made absolutely no headway on for 8 months so I’ve hired a blog coach. There is no shame in asking for help.

3. When you do start making progress, celebrate

I’m one of those people who talks to herself. Not in my mind, but out aloud. If I’ve done good work, I say to myself, “I did an awesome job today.” The first time my one colleague heard me, he couldn’t believe it.

But I don’t think there’s anything wrong – in fact, if you don’t pat yourself on the back, who will?

Doing these three things will start giving you momentum again and put you in a place of progress.

When you keep steadily on, you’ll be sure to reach your goals.

I would love to help you and be your cheerleader as you achieve your goals.

Your action steps

1. Be brave and choose just 3 things that you want to still accomplish this year
2. Book your Success Strategy Session now.
3. Tell yourself you’re awesome!

When I posted the first question of the week  6 weeks ago, Melina wrote to me and asked me this question:

How do you keep your earrings, bracelets and necklaces organised?

I referred her to the search button on the left of the blog because I’ve blogged before about organising jewellery

So, how do YOU keep your jewellery organised?

In South Africa, we’ve been enjoying summer weather for the last month.

I felt I had to go through my winter clothes and do some good decluttering.

There is nothing as satisfying as seeing all these empty hangers and these piles of clothes ready to be donated.

I used my “rules” for decluttering clothes and got rid of clothes that:

1. I hated… for whatever reason…colour, style, etc.
2. didn’t look good on me
3. didn’t fit properly
4. I’d kept over from last winter and still didn’t fit

Here are the 3 piles!

What a fantastic feeling

If you’re inspired to go through your clothes, post a comment and let me know.

How often do you go through your clothes to declutter them?

Life is such a whirlwind, isn’t it?

If you’re anything like me, it often seems like the weeks go by in a blur of activity…and then it’s weekend again.

Or the weekends go by so quickly and when Monday comes around, you feel like you’ve just started to relax and the week is upon you once again.

The problem with this is that we never have a sense of peace, calm and control. A feeling that we are directing the course of our own lives.

I go through patches of hectic too so I thought I’d share some of the systems I’ve set up to make our lives easier:

Household calendar

We have one household calendar in our kitchen where we mark off any commitments like church, other ministry commitments, meetings, gym, socials, and so on. The nice thing about this system is that we can see when we’re too busy by all the writing. I also mark off the recycling pick-up days, when the meter reader is due and of course, things like birthdays.

I couple this with diary planning for the week ahead. I look at my diary on a Sunday and put in my appointments for the week. I also add any tasks that I need or want to work on, like writing articles, e-courses, newsletters and so on.

Meal planning

I love meal planning because it saves me time. When I say this to people, some think I’m crazy because “how can all that planning save you time?”

It’s quite simple – a twenty-minute planning session on the weekend saves me time from Monday to Friday, when I need it most. No more standing in front of the open fridge wondering what to make for supper.

And you can still be spontaneous within the plan. I plan meals for the working week but if I don’t feel like a particular meal that day, I change it around and cook another day’s meal.

For example, if it’s very hot and I planned to have baked potatoes with a topping, I’ll postpone that to another day and make a pasta salad instead.

Regular decluttering and organising

I tackle an area in our home every weekend. Let’s face it – if we’re constantly buying things and bringing them into our homes and lives, clutter is constantly building up unless we get rid of some of it.

It doesn’t have to be a huge exercise. While you’re busy cooking or baking, you can sort out a cupboard or two. I don’t trust my oven timer (it is erratic) so I stay in the kitchen whenever I bake to make sure my muffins don’t burn.

I then use the time constructively to sort out the cupboards, plan my menus, write out my shopping list, etc.

When you factor in just 15 minutes’ decluttering and organising every weekend, you can easily maintain your home if it is already organised. Of course, if your house is nowhere near where you’d like it, I would suggest 15 minutes every day.

Launch pad

Do you know the place in your house where you dump your bags as you enter? Flylady calls this a launch pad. I like that term because it reminds me of action.

We have an interesting, little corner in our entrance hall that I use for my launch pad and my husband uses another section near the kitchen.

Mornings are one of the worst times in most families – you can’t find your keys, wallet, bag, etc. Frantic running around and screaming happens and that is just not fun.

The point is that we use our launch pads to ready ourselves for mornings. Every evening I pack my handbag, work bag and keys, and they are all left here. In the mornings all I do is grab and go. Literally once I leave the bedroom, I walk to the fridge to get my cooler bag with my lunch, kiss the babies good-bye, grab my bags from my launch pad and I’m out of there.

Now, over to you.

Which of these systems can you implement to make your life easier?

Share your favourite systems with me.

© Marcia Francois 2007 – 2010

Marcia Francois is a speaker and time management coach who helps busy women break free from overwhelm. Visit www.takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.

These are just a tiny sample of idea you get when you book your one-on-one session with me. If you liked these ideas, you’ll love working with me privately. Book your session now.

The question of the week is…

When you go to a bookstore, what’s the first section you go to?

I go to the journals and notebooks section first and then self-development (the goals/ time management part).

Over to you!

I have a friend who hates cables and cords with a passion.

She was in “heaven” when she got her first cordless mouse and told me that her office life would be perfect if only everything could be cordless

So she’s the first person I thought of when I first came across the desktop organiser below.

It stores the cables from all your mobile accessories so your desk is clutter-free.

Personally, I don’t like much out in the open as my twins get into anything so I’m not using it but for homes without little ones, this is a great organising tool.

P.S. my gadgets are in a little metal bucket so I can whip it away from curious little babies.
P.P.S. I got one of these for free so I’ll be giving it to my friend, J

There’s a little-known secret that, once understood, will absolutely change the way you run your life.

That secret is playing to your strengths by using your natural energy cycles.

When you work with your energy cycles instead of against them, you save time because you do things faster, with more clarity and with greater focus.

Quickly grab a piece of paper and answer these four questions:

1. Are you a night owl or an early bird?

If you’re a night owl like me, then plan your life so that you start the day off slowly and work up to your peak. Or vice versa.

2. When do you do your best creative work?

I don’t know if the real creative types will agree with me but I think that any form of writing uses the creative side of our brains.

When I need to do some writing, I’m generally great first thing in the morning (well, for me…) or very late at night (9pm onwards). If I try to write from lunch-time onwards, it takes me at least double the time, if not longer.

When I leave the project and do it at one of my prime writing times, the ideas flow easier and the quality is just better.

3. When do you do your best logical/ reasoning work?

This involves things like budgeting, playing with spreadsheets (that’s what I call it to make it seem more fun!), working with numbers, etc.

Figure this out and as best as you can, try and schedule these kinds of tasks when that side of your brain is awake and kicking!

4. When do you prefer to exercise?

Um, never Okay, let me rephrase: if you had to exercise, when would be the best time for you?

This usually works the same as number 1 but if you find that if you’re stuck, lacking motivation or just feeling overwhelmed, you might want to add in some exercise to jump-start yourself.

This week’s coaching challenge

a. Pick a task you’ve been procrastinating on or that you just can’t seem to get going with.
b. After you’ve identified the type of task, work on it at a different time of day.
c. Get it done

You can do it!

Marcia Francois is a speaker and time management coach. If you want to break out of overwhelm, I’ll show you how to get more organised and save time by getting the right things done. Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack worth $37.

Here’s this week’s question:

What’s your favourite room in your house?

Mine? My study, because it is the sunniest room and I love light, there’s a reading chair and my desk is exactly how I like it

Over to you!

I love the internet and all the wonderful ways we can work together even though we’re on opposite ends of the world.

I get a real kick out of working with a client in the US knowing that I’m in South Africa. Isn’t it amazing?

With email, Skype, online chat, podcasts, e-books and audio downloads, there is so much out there!

So how do you make all this e-learning work for you?

1. Decide what you want and use only that

You don’t have to use absolutely every tool. Many e-books or programmes offer far more than we actually have time for or need. Use only what you want.

If you buy an e-book and only need 3 out of the 5 topics covered, then start with those 3 and if you have time for the rest (and want to carry on), then continue. But don’t feel compelled to do so.

I invest in a large number of programmes and many of them include video. Since I’m not into video, I just use the rest of the tools.

2. Think out of the box and make it work for you

If you don’t enjoy spending lots of time on the computer, print out the e-course or e-book and sit outside in the garden while you work through the lesson.

Did you know that you can listen to a PDF document? Go to View and select Read Out Loud.

Download podcasts or MP3s and listen to them in the gym, while you’re driving or while you do your filing in your study (this is exactly what I do with all audio downloads and podcasts).

3. Know your learning style

Are you a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner? I’ll give you a very quick run-down:

• You’re visual if you read, watch TV or surf the internet/ blogs to relax.
• You’re auditory if you listen to music or talk to a friend to relax.
• You’re kinesthetic if you play sport or do a physical activity to relax.

More than 60% of people are visual learners. I’m a visual learner too and I definitely prefer e-courses or e-books to audio products.

Realise that no e-product or programme will ever be 100% perfect for you but if you take what you need and use it, you will have the success you intended to have when you bought it.

Here’s a link to my e-store where you can have a look at all the organising goodies and see which suits your style best.

What is your learning style?

Attention:
Fabulous, Phenomenal Women who are ready to live their best lives

• Are you tired of feeling blah and frumpy?
• Do you know deep down you’re destined for greatness?
• Did you have big ideas for your life and you can’t quite remember where and when you got off track?
• Do you forget where Mom ends and ________ (insert your own name) begins?
• Do you just need a loving push to get started again?

It’s time to come out of hiding and shine!

You know you’re fabulous but there are a few tweaks you’d like to make in order to live your absolute best life.

Well, this is your chance!

Read more about how you can come out of hiding and be the superhero of your own life

Wait!

If you’re in Johannesburg or Pretoria, you get to have me LIVE and IN-PERSON